


teenagers

by camiludd



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: F/M, Female Protagonist, Friends to Lovers, POV Female Character, Protective Siblings, References to Depression, Werewolves
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-06-28
Updated: 2019-07-12
Packaged: 2020-05-28 06:10:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 14,213
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19388122
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/camiludd/pseuds/camiludd
Summary: maddison hale was content. she loved her school. she loved her friends. she loved the three bedroom apartment overlooking new york city that she shared with her siblings. she had absolutely no interest in returning to beacon hills and becoming scott mccall's supernatural babysitter, but that's exactly what happened.TEEN WOLF SEASONS 1-2





	1. PREFACE

“welcome to beacon hills!”

the brunette sighed as she watched the sign fade into the distance as they drove further into their old hometown, turning away from the window to look over at her older brother. she had hoped that they would never have to come back here, considering the last time either of them had stepped foot in this town was the day after their entire family had burned to death in a fire, destroying the only home either of them had ever known.

“so when we find laura, we can leave right? we don't have to stay here?” the younger brunette asked, not bothering to keep the hope out of her voice. she hadn’t made her reluctance about their return to beacon hills a secret, and was hoping that the sooner they were able to find their sister, the sooner they would be able to leave.

“hopefully. i don’t want to be back here anymore than you do,” he shrugged, turning right into the preserve that had once held their family home. “but laura isn’t answering any of my calls or texts, and she seemed to think something pretty important was going on here in order for her to come back.”

“having to do with a deer with a spiral carved into it,” she finished, causing derek to nod his head as he parked his black camaro in front of the charred remains of the former Hale house. she climbed out of the car, grabbing the duffle bag she had randomly filled with her clothes and belongings out of the trunk before looking around.

“i’m so glad we decided to leave our three bedroom apartment overlooking new york city to come back to beacon hills and live in what’s left of the house our entire family died in.”

“yeah well, let’s hope it isn’t permanent,” derek grunted as he went inside. she hesitated for a moment before following him, knowing that as soon as she stepped through the door, it would be the beginning of the end.

♛ ♛ ♛

she sat on the hood of derek’s car, staring up at the stars that cluttered up the night sky. that was the one good thing about beacon hills, you could always see stars at night.

“we didn’t see those a whole lot in new york,” derek said as he leaned against the car, looking from the sky over to his younger sister.

“she’s dead, isn’t she?” the small brunette choked out, looking over at him. “that’s why she wasn’t answering us. she’s dead.”

he looked at the ground as he nodded, avoiding any sort of eye contact with her. she slid off the hood of the car, walking over to stand next to derek. he wrapped an arm around her shoulder, the way he always did when he didn’t know what to say but wanted to do something to try and comfort her.

“guess it’s just you and me now,” he said quietly, pulling her into a hug as she began to cry over the loss of their sister.


	2. CHAPTER ONE

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> maddy's first day at beacon hills high school
> 
> follows episode 1x01 - wolf moon

“you’re seriously making me do this? come on derek, laura’s killer is still out there, i don’t really think school is the best use of my time,” maddy argued, slouching down her seat as her brother pulled in front of the high school. 

“you’re going. coming back here isn't a vacation, and i'm not going to let you become stupid. now go have fun,” he smirked. 

"with the quality of education i'll be getting here, i'd probably learn more if i stayed home," the younger hale mumbled, flipping him off before grabbing her backpack and stepping out of the car. derek didn’t waste a second before speeding off, barely waiting for her to close the door. 

the brunette began walking towards the entrance of the school, avoiding eye contact with the multiple people she could feel staring at her as she walked past. she knew it was inevitable that people would recognize her, although she had been hoping that it would take a little bit longer than a minute considering the last time she had seen any of these people she was nine years old. 

almost every student there recognized her in a way; some just knowing her name and were finally able to put a face to it while others had once called her a friend. the ones who remembered her as the happy-go-lucky nine year old who wore her hair in braids and was attached at the hip with her twin sister were the most shocked to see her back, especially clad in a beat up leather jacket and ripped jeans. 

in a way, she hadn’t changed that much since she last saw her friends from beacon hills. she was still short. still had the same long brown, almost black hair. she still had the same blue eyes. the only thing that had changed was her personality, which made her seem like a completely different person. 

“isn’t that maddison hale?” she heard a group of people say as she walked by them. she slowed her pace, wanting to hear what they were going to say. 

“i think so. wonder what made her come back.” another said. 

“one thing’s for sure, she got hot,” a guy laughed, high fiving his friend. that was enough to make her speed up her pace, cursing derek under her breath as she realised he dropped her off across the campus from the main office. 

she continued to hear variations of the same conversations about herself; people talking about her family and what could have possibly made her come back, talking about what happened to her after the fire and where she went. the knot of anxiety in her stomach grew at each comment. 

she shoved her hands into the pockets of her leather jacket as she hurried across the campus. the jacket was the only thing bringing her a sense of comfort at the moment, reminding her of her brother. she thought back to last year when derek finally gave it to her, tired of the younger girl always ‘borrowing’ it.

the brunette stopped in her tracks as she heard a familiar voice, looking around for a moment before her eyes settled on the source. it had been six years since she last seen or talked to either of the two boys, but it was easy for her to recognize her former best friends. 

“it was too dark to see much but i’m pretty sure it was a wolf,” he said, beginning to walk in her direction alongside his friend. her eyes widened at the talk of wolves, knowing for a fact the only wolves in this part of california were the type with glowing eves.

“a wolf bit you?” his friend confirmed, shaking his head. “no, not a chance. california doesn’t have wolves, okay. not in like 60 years.” 

she took out her phone and started to call derek as she faintly listened to the rest of their conversation, a sense of dread filling her stomach.

“well if you don’t believe me about the wolf, the you’re definitely not going to believe me when i tell you i found the body,” he said, causing her mouth to open as her head snapped back towards the two. she no longer wanted to be anywhere near the two boys, suddenly feeling sick to her stomach as she accepted that “the body” they were talking about was her sister. scott suddenly narrowed his eyes, looking over stiles’s shoulder at something, or rather someone, behind him. “or that maddy hale is standing behind you.”

stiles turned around at the mention of her name, causing the brunette to freeze. the two boys began moving towards her, causing her to snap out of her daze and hurry into the school, finally calling her brother as she did so.

♛ ♛ ♛

“ah miss hale,” mr. curtis, her first period teacher hummed as she walked into his class a minute after the bell rang. “nice to see you back in beacon hills. i’m hoping your grades are slightly better than your brother’s were when i had him in my class.”

she sighed at the mention of her brother, having just gotten off the phone with a very frustrated derek a few minutes earlier. the thought of another beta in beacon hills meant that the two siblings wouldn’t be able to return to new york as soon as they had hoped, especially if they had to worry about someone running around biting teenagers.

she looked over at the board, smirking before looking back at the short, slightly chubby man. 

“i don’t know if you were just in a hurry or if it’s a first day nerves thing, but you spelled ‘kafka’ wrong. it’s an ‘f’ not a ‘ph’,” she smiled at him as he looked from the brunette to the board, his mouth opening slightly as he realized she was right. she took a seat in the back of the class behind stiles as the teacher fixed his mistake, the smirk still on her face as she looked at the syllabus in front of her. 

the brunette could feel stiles and scott staring at her, along with the rest of the class as she flipped through the packet outlining the class, eventually looking up to make eye contact with scott, who swiftly turned away to pretend like he hadn’t been staring at her.

it had been a shock to him and stiles both when they saw her rush into the school fifteen minutes earlier, not having seen their former best friend in six years. she didn’t even look like the same person. sure, she was still short, and she had the same blue eyes, but she had lost the spark that had always made her seem so happy, and the smile that she never seemed to be without was gone. her attitude seemed to have done a 180 in the six years since she’d been in beacon hills as well, because as much as she loved to correct people when they were wrong, she would have never dared to correct a teacher. 

she looked away from scott and around the room quickly, remembering most of the people in the class. even though they technically didn’t know each other, they all still grew up together.

she looked up as she saw scott jump in his seat as a cell phone began ringing outside, rolling her eyes at how obvious the boy was being as he looked around the room trying to figure out where the sound was coming from. after ten years of learning how to keep her enhanced senses in check, the brunette was used to tuning out bits and pieces of random conversation or sounds like a phone ringing. scott however, was not. 

a moment later, a man who she assumed was the principal, walked into the class followed by the girl whom scott and maddison just overheard have a conversation with her mom outside. 

“class, this is our new student, allison argent. please do your best to make her feel welcome,” he said, making allison’s cheeks flush red in embarrassment as she hurried to the only empty seat in the class behind scott. 

she felt bad for the girl, having just gone through the moment of everyone in the class stare at you like you’re some sort of zoo animal. she was just thankful for the fact that she wasn’t escorted to her class by a member of the faculty, the principal most likely thinking it wasn’t necessary since she was originally from the small town. 

scott, being the dork he was, turned around to offer the new girl his pen, since they had just listened to her freak out about the fact that she forgot a pen on the first day of school. 

“oh my god,” the brunette mumbled under her breath as she watched allison give a shy smile to scott as she took the pen, her features growing confused soon afterwards. stiles turned around to look at her questioningly, having heard her previous statement. she gave him a small smile which he returned before he turned back around to listen to what mr. curtis was saying. maddison sighed, resting her head on her right hand as she began to make notes on the syllabus as mr. curtis droned on. 

“miss hale,” curtis called, making her look up from the paper she had been doodling on. she put her pen down, covering up the intricate rose she had begun drawing. “since you were so keen to correct me on my spelling error earlier, would you care to give us a brief summary of kafka’s metamorphosis?”

“it’s a short story written by franz kafka, and was first published in 1915. it’s original german title was die verwandlung, which directly translates in english to ‘the transformation’. it’s about a travelling salesman named gregor samsa, who wakes up one day as a disgusting insect and reflects on how horrible life as a travelling salesman was,” the brunette explained, boredom evident in her tone before going back to drawing on her syllabus. the rest of the class had turned around to gawk at her in the middle of her explanation, not remembering maddison to have been the brightest student. “i read it last year.”

“yes, well thank you,” he said quickly, turning back to the front of the classroom. she figured he was hoping that she would have gotten derek’s academic ability, which was fortunately not the situation. she knew it was unlikely that any teacher that had her siblings would go without comparing them, she just hoped they would chose laura rather than derek. her brother was street smart, and had an immense knowledge of the supernatural world, but fell short on the normal school subjects like math and english. 

♛ ♛ ♛

the youngest hale sighed as she zipped up her leather jacket, crossing her arms over her chest in attempt to warm herself. she would admit that the weather in beacon hills was much warmer than what she was accustomed to in new york, but that didn’t stop her from freezing as she sat on the cold metal bleachers. 

“if it isn’t maddy hale. long time, no see,” said a voice from behind her. she turned around to see jackson whittemore walking towards her, a smirk on his face. she and jackson had never been the best of friends, but she got along with the boy better than most people, which was saying a lot.

the last conversation she remembered having with him was the day of the fire. they were actually getting along that day, their friendship being a slippery slope depending on the day. they were paired up for competition day in gym class, the two fifth graders winning each of the six activities they were required to do.

“jackson whittemore. i see you’re still a rich, stuck up asshole,” she smirked, looking him up and down.

“and i see you’re still a bitch,” he shot back. she glared at him for a moment before letting out a short laugh and standing up to give him a hug. “gonna be fun having you back hale. i need someone who can take an insult.”

she shook her head as she watched him run onto the lacrosse field, sitting back down on the bleachers. she hadn’t realised that she had actually missed jackson while she was gone, despite the fact they only got along a small portion of the time they knew each other. every time they were put in a class together as kids, it amazed teachers how the two could go from being at each other's throats one minute to laughing about something the next.

the brunette leaned her back against the cool metal as the lacrosse practice began, thinking back to last night and wondering how the trip to beacon hills to locate their sister turned into derek and herself burying half of laura’s body in their front yard. 

♛ ♛ ♛

_ the brunette leaned against the side of the house as she watched her brother dig a hole to put their sister in. she looked over at laura’s torso, the only part of her that derek and herself had been able to find in the woods. _

_ “do you know who did this to her?” she choked out, her eyes brimming with tears as she looked over at her brother. as much as the younger hale had wanted to avoid crying, she knew it was bound to happen. derek finished digging, tossing the shovel onto the ground before hopping out of the hole himself. _

_ “hunters,” he sighed. he stood next to his younger sister, looking down at her with a pained expression as he realised that he was the only person she had left. he thought back to the day of the fire, remembering how he saw laura look at the two of them the same way he was now looking at maddy. _

_ “we should have tried harder to keep her from coming back. if she hadn’t left new york she would still be here,” she cried softly, attempting to wipe her tears with the sleeves of her black shirt. derek wrapped an arm around the younger girl, hugging her to his side as he shook his head. _

_ “we tried, addy. we did everything we could. laura wouldn’t listen to us, it was her choice to come back here. she knew what the symbol meant, she knew the risks,” he told her, trying to make her feel better even though he knew his words would do nothing. he could feel her nod her head before pulling away from him, wiping her eyes once more. she looked over at their eldest sibling's body and sighed.  _

_ “at least we get to bury her,” the brunette said quietly, still looking at what was left of laura. “we didn’t get to bury mom, dad, cora or anyone else after the fire.” _

_ they spent the rest of the time in silence, the only sound being the occasional grunt from derek or sob from maddy as they buried their older sister. they took turns wrapping a string of wolfsbane around her grave so that instead of the upper half of laura hale lying in the grave, the upper neck of a wolf was in her place.  _

__ ♛ ♛ ♛ 

maddy snapped back to reality as she heard coach blow his whistle, moving from her spot on the lowest bleacher as she saw stiles sit down on the bench. she took a seat next to him, checking her phone again, waiting for a text from derek about when or if he was going to be picking her up. 

“so, do you two still suck as much as i remember?” the brunette asked stiles as she shoved her phone in her pocket. the last time she had seen scott and stiles play lacrosse, they were terrible. neither of them could throw the ball, let alone catch it. she tried to imagine the two of them actually playing on the team, chuckling at the thought.

“nah, probably more,” he shrugged, a smile pulling at his lips. he had missed the brunette while she was gone, as much as he hated to admit. it hurt him when she left, especially since she never said goodbye. “my position is benchwarmer, so i guess that answers your question.”

she laughed as she talked to stiles while the other players got ready to begin practice, scott looking lost as he stood in goal. maddison got a bad feeling about the boy being in goal, knowing how aggressive lacrosse could be, especially for the goalies.

she grimaced as she watched scott fall after taking a shot to the face, worried as she thought about what the increased aggression levels of lacrosse could do to the newly bitten teen. he stood back up, shaking off his horrible first attempt at goal as he got ready for the next shot, which he caught as if it was first nature. in fact, he caught the next five shots, making stiles jump off the bench in excitement. 

“i’m guessing scott isn’t normally this good?” the disappointment evident in the brunette’s voice as she looked over at stiles. if scott being good at lacrosse was some overnight miracle, then there was no way the pen thing with allison was just scott coincidentally trying to be nice and flirt. 

“no way, i’ve never seen him play this good,” stiles told her, shaking his head as he sat back down, a smile still lighting up his features. 

everyone went quiet as jackson, the resident asshole of beacon hills and current captain of the lacrosse team lined up to take his shot, determined to beat scott. maddison watched as jackson ran up, taking his shot, which was eventually blocked by scott. if looks could kill, scott would have been dead, but jackson was the only one who seemed angry about it. everyone, including jackson’s girlfriend, lydia martin, was cheering for scott.

**to: big brother**

**scott was definately bit by the alpha. he’s way too good at lacrosse and from the looks of everyone’s reactions right now, this is a new thing**

**from: big brother**

**coming to get you now. if you’re right about this we have a big problem. friday’s the full moon and he won’t know how to control himself** __

she sighed as he finally texted her back, grabbing her backpack as she said a goodbye to stiles, who watched the brunette walk back to the school, wondering what brought her back to beacon hills. 

“you really think your friend scott was bit?” derek asked as soon as his younger sister got in the car. the brunette rolled her eyes as she put on her seatbelt and sliding her phone in her backpack.

since being back in beacon hills, the two siblings hadn’t had a conversation that hadn’t involved laura’s death, werewolves, or the hunters that were back in town. maddison sighed as she looked over at her brother, leaning her head back against her seat.

“hey addy, how was your day? hi derek. yeah my first day back at school was terrible, thanks for asking. all of my teachers have apparently had you as a student and made it clear that they hoped i was either smarter than you, better behaved than you, or both,” she sarcastically replied, ignoring his question and pretending to have a conversation with herself, causing derek to glare at the brunette as he sped towards their house. “alright eyes on the road. you’re horrible at following traffic laws and i don’t feel like dying. anyways, yeah, scott was definitely bitten. he’s hearing things that i can hear, he’s more athletic, seems like his enhanced senses are starting to kick in. the strength and stuff will definitely help him during lacrosse though, because apparently he used to suck.”

“you’re going to have to make sure you’re at all the lacrosse games and practices,” he said, glancing over at his younger sister again. “if he loses control there’s got to be at least one person there who he won’t be able to kill, and i’m too old to be showing up at high school lacrosse practices.”

“at least you’ve got some faith in me. not so much in scott, but hey, this is a development for downer derek.”


	3. CHAPTER TWO

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> follows episode 1x02 - second chance at first line

the brunette stepped over a log as she walked through the forest surrounding her house, pulling her hands inside the sleeves of her leather jacket as she crossed her arms. she hadn’t planned on spending her afternoon watching lacrosse or hiking through the woods, but apparently her brother had other ideas. derek had stumbled across scott’s inhaler while he was in the woods earlier, and was now dragging his younger sister through the forest to return it to the boy; mainly because he wanted to see, or rather smell, for himself whether or not scott had been bitten. 

“come on, derek,” she groaned, following behind him as they looked for scott and stiles. “it’s cold, can’t i just give him his inhaler at school tomorrow?”

he remained quiet as he continued to walk in front of her. she thought it was funny how the only noise coming from the two of them was the sound of her complaining, yet they could hear scott and stiles from a mile away. the younger hale went to speak again, but was stopped by the older man before she could. 

“shut up, i’m trying to hear what they’re saying,” derek snapped, causing the brunette to put her hands up in defense. they were close enough now that they could see the other two teenagers. maddison stopped and leaned up against a tree while derek stood next to her. 

the siblings listened as the two boys talked, scott kneeling down to look through the leaves for his inhaler as stiles stood next to him. maddy looked over at her brother, trying to figure out what his plan was. she knew that he wanted to help scott learn to control his transitions, but wasn’t sure how ambushing him in the middle of the woods was going to make scott trust him. and knowing derek, he wasn’t going to make the best first impression.

she let out a sigh as derek began to walk towards scott and stiles. she was always amazed at how derek could make his presence so unknown. the brunette often told the older boy he would make a great spy, since he could hide somewhere for ages without anyone realising he was there. 

stiles looked around, jumping and hitting scott when he noticed derek. she shook her head at her brother, who, as much as he would deny it, had a flare for dramatic entrances. derek continued walking towards the two of them, and maddy laughed as she began to smell the fear radiating off scott and stiles.

“what are you doing here? this is private property,” he said, his voice lower than normal. the older man stared at scott and stiles, both of whom were obviously terrified of him. he shook his head, raising his eyebrows as he waited for them to answer. 

“nah man, sorry we didn’t know,” stiles stuttered. maddy laughed as she looked between the three, derek’s threatening posture not helping relieve the fear in the other two. 

“we were just looking for something, but...forget it,” scott spoke slowly, looking at derek as if he recognized him. she could tell from scott’s rigid posture that he didn’t trust derek, despite having just met the guy. 

derek tossed scott his inhaler, which he caught without blinking, before turning around and walking back over to where the brunette was standing. he paused for a brief moment, giving her a chance to move away from her spot against the tree before heading back in the direction of their house.

stiles and scott noticed the brunette who had been watching their encounter with her brother as she left the small clearing with him. stiles in particular didn’t understand how she put up with the guy. he figured it had to have something to do with the fact that he was the only family she had left, but still, the guy looked like he was as much fun to be around as a serial killer.

scott on the other hand, was thinking about how similar the two siblings really were. even from just the small meeting with her brother, he could tell the two had spent most of their time together in the last six years. aside from the obvious sibling traits they shared and their love of the color black, both of them had the same tense posture, like they were constantly on edge, never quite comfortable with their surroundings. both had an air of confidence about them, and both looked like they could rip your head off at any given moment, especially the older hale.

“you didn’t have to be so rude,” maddy told derek as they made their way back towards their house, shoving her hands into the pockets of her leather jacket as it began to get windier. “you want to help him, right? so he doesn’t join the potentially homicidal alpha roaming around? so if that’s still the plan, you might want to turn your little frown upside down and be nice to someone besides me.”

“i don’t  _ like _ anyone besides you,” he deadpanned. “and i don’t even like you all of the time.”

“see, that was a start. you were nice for a minute there, then you had to get all mean. it’s like whenever you’re nice you have to balance it out with even more mean.”

♛ ♛ ♛

“scott!” maddy called, jogging over to the boy as he made his way up to the stilinski household. 

“hey maddy...what are you wearing?” he asked, looking her up and down. maddy chuckled as she looked down at her outfit, realising what scott was talking about. the brunette had been on a run when she got a text from stiles to meet him at his house, and obviously scott had gotten the same one. she had ended up just running to stiles’s house, meaning she was only wearing a black nike sports bra and compression shorts with her running shoes.

“scott, don’t act like you’ve never seen a girl in a bra before,” she laughed, making scott’s face go red. “oh my god you’ve never seen a girl in a bra before, have you! well i mean, outside of a computer screen but still-”

“shut up maddy,” he laughed, opening the door to stiles’s house and walking inside. he closed the door behind the brunette, his eyes widening as he noticed a tattoo on her wrist. throughout the week that she had been back, scott had never seen maddy without a jacket or some type of long sleeve shirt on, both of which had hidden the small symbol.

“maddy, do you have a tattoo?” he asked, not bothering to hide the awe in his voice. he had always planned to get a tattoo at some point in his life, but never thought about getting one while he was still in high school.

maddy didn’t think much of the tattoo, often forgetting it was there. she only remembered when she saw derek’s, or when somebody asked her about it like scott just did. she’d gotten the tattoo on her fifteenth birthday as a tribute to her mother, derek doing the same. the pain was worse than anything she had ever felt, turning her off to ever getting another one. plus, the lengths she had to go to so that it didn’t heal immediately after were not something she would ever want to experience again.

“yeah, it’s a symbol called a triskelion. my brother has the same one, but his is a lot bigger and on his back,” she shrugged. scott shook his head about how nonchalant she was about the tattoo before shrugging off his sweatshirt and handing it to his friend. 

“put this on if you want stiles to be able to form a coherent sentence. it’ll probably be a bit big but-” 

“scott this thing goes down to my knees,” she said as she struggled to zip the hoodie. “i don’t even know where my hands are.”

she wasn’t exaggerating at all. the brunette was so much smaller than scott that his hoodie stopped just above her knees, making it look like more of a dress than a sweatshirt. scott laughed as he followed her up the stairs, not realising until then how small the girl actually was.

“maddy, how tall are you?” scott asked as he knocked on stiles’s door, earning himself a glare from maddison as he did so.

“we aren’t talking about this,” she mumbled, crossing her arms in front of her chest as stiles opened the door.

“get in, and what aren’t we talking about?” he asked, opening the door to let them in his room, which was a mess. there were books and papers were scattered all over the floor, maddy’s eyes widening slightly at the mess. she had always been a bit of a clean freak, which usually meant that she was the one cleaning up after her siblings whenever they made a mess. 

“i asked maddy how tall she was,” scott shrugged, sitting down on stiles’s bed as maddison leaned against the wall. 

“oh yeah, how tall are you?” stiles asked, furrowing his eyebrows as he looked at her. he figured she couldn’t be any taller than 5’4”, but figured even that was pushing it.

“if i tell you, you have to promise not to laugh,” she sighed, looking between the two boys. her height was her least favorite thing about herself, if you weren’t counting the fact that her eyes sometimes starting glowing a bright blue color and her nails turned into claws.

“promise,” the two boys said at the same time, a smirk growing on scott’s face. she leaned her head back and groaned before looking back at the two boys.

“i’m 5’1”,” she mumbled, so quietly that scott could hardly hear it with his newly enhanced hearing. she sighed before repeating herself, this time so that they could actually hear. “i’m 5’1”, happy now?”

“that’s not that much shorter than i thought,” stiles said, trying his best not to laugh while scott was basically holding his breath. 

“yeah i’m short, big deal. why did you call us over here?” she asked, shaking her head at stiles who seemed to have forgotten that he had texted them and told them to come over. his eyes lit up before looking over at scott.

“i’ve been up all night reading, websites, books, all this information,” stiles starting, walking over to his desk and sitting down. 

“how much adderall have you had today?” scott laughed, watching his best friend shuffle through piles of papers. stiles looked up at him for a moment before he spoke.

“a lot. doesn’t matter. okay, just listen.”

“is this about the body? did they find out who did it?” scott asked, making the brunette standing in the corner of the room cringe. nobody knew that it was laura yet, and if her and derek had it their way nobody would find out. 

“no, they’re still questioning people. even derek hale,” stiles told him, not thinking about what he said until he realised there was another person in the room, one who would have a very big problem with derek being questioned by the police about the body. maddy’s attention peaked at that, raising her eyebrows at stiles’s statement about her brother. “just because it was in the woods around the hale property. i don’t think he’s a suspect. anyways, scott, remember the joke from the other day? not a joke anymore. the wolf-the bite in the woods. i started doing all this reading, do you even know why a wolf howls?”

“should i?” scott asked, looking from stiles to maddy, trying to figure out what stiles’s point in all this was. maddison, however, knew the point stiles was making, and was glad one of these idiots actually figured it out. her only problem was, she knew scott wouldn’t believe it, and derek would kill her if she tried to prove it to him. 

“it’s a signal. when a wolf’s alone, it howls to signal its location to the rest of the pack,” maddison answered, knowing almost every fact about a wolf inside and out. 

“so if you heard a wolf howling, that means there could have been others nearby, maybe even a whole pack of them,” stiles finished, trying to make scott realise his point. 

“a whole pack of wolves?” scott asked, still not understanding.

“no, werewolves,” stiles told him, realising now that his theory didn’t sound as great out loud as it did on paper.

maddison put her head in her hands at stiles’s explanation before taking a look at scott. as she had assumed, scott had a look of annoyance on his face, not believing a word his best friend had said. granted, stiles didn’t do a very good job of convincing him that werewolves were real in the first place, let alone that scott could be one. 

“are you seriously wasting my time with this? you know i’m picking up allison in an hour,” scott groaned, grabbing his bag of stiles’s bed as he began to stand up. maddy moved towards scott and stiles, watching as stiles stood in front of scott so that he could keep explaining. 

“i saw you on the field today scott, what you did wasn’t just amazing, alright. it was impossible,” she said, the two boys looking over at her as if, once again, they had forgotten she was there. 

“you made an incredible shot! i mean...the way you moved, your speed, your reflexes?” stiles continued, taking scott’s bag out of his hand and tossing it back onto the bed. “people can’t just suddenly do that overnight. and there’s the vision and the senses, and don’t even think i don’t notice that you don’t need your inhaler anymore.”

“okay! guys, i can’t think about this right now. we’ll talk tomorrow,” scott said, trying to leave again.

“what! no, scott, the full moon is tonight!” stiles yelled, making maddy’s eyes go wide. she had never had a problem with control on full moons, the last time she had to be chained up being when she was seven. but she completely forgot about the fact that scott was a completely untrained, new wolf. if something happened tonight to cause him to shift for the first time, the results could be deadly. 

while she was having a daydream about scott potentially murdering everyone at the party tonight, scott at stiles pinned up against the wall, about to punch him. not thinking about it, the brunette grabbed scott’s bicep, dragging him away from stiles and pinning him to the opposite wall. 

“scott, you need to calm down. stiles is right. it’s a full moon, you cannot go on this date,” she told him, her eyes boring into his as she held him against the wall. scott looked down at the small girl before glancing over at stiles, who was still leaning up against the wall. both were shocked at how strong their friend was, considering her small stature.

scott attempted to move himself out of her grasp, and was even more surprised to realize he couldn’t move at all. he looked back at maddison, whose face was emotionless as she held scott against the wall. 

“um, maddy, that kind of hurts,” scott coughed nervously, nodding his head towards where she was holding him by the wrists. she immediately let go, forgetting that she was stronger than the boy at the moment, mainly because she knew how to control her strength better than he did. 

“so you believe stiles, about the whole werewolf thing?” scott asked her, rubbing his wrist slightly. she nodded, backing away from the boy and taking a seat on the edge of stiles’s bed. scott shook his head, realising that he had just tried to punch his best friend and that he was just pinned to the wall by someone who was almost a foot shorter than him. not knowing what had gotten into him, he grabbed his bag and began heading towards the door. “i-i have to go get ready. i’m sorry.”

maddy and stiles watched as scott left before looking at each other, worry evident in both of their eyes. maddy looked over at the desk chair scott had knocked over in his fit of rage, her eyes widening as she noticed the claw marks on the back. stiles saw what she was looking at, his jaw dropping as he began to stutter. 

“i’ve gotta get home so i can get ready for that party and keep an eye on him. this isn’t safe,” maddy sighed, looking over at stiles. the boy raised his eyebrows as he looked at her, not understanding what her keeping an eye on scott would do if he really was a werewolf. maddison had proved she was strong when she pinned scott to the wall, but stiles didn’t think her strength would hold up against a werewolf.

“how are you going to do anything if he turns into a wolf and tries to murder everyone?” stiles asked, looking at her in confusion. she smirked slightly at the picture that was probably in stiles’s head right now of scott turning into an actual wolf.

“just trust me. i’ve got it covered,” she chuckled, beginning to walk towards the door. “oh, and you might want to cover that with some duct tape before your dad sees it,” she told him, gesturing towards the clawed up desk chair. 


	4. CHAPER THREE

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> follows the second half of 1x02 - second chance at first line

“so let’s get this straight, you refused to come and watch a lacrosse practice because you think it would be too creepy, yet you’re completely fine with crashing a high school party?” the brunette asked her older brother, raising an eyebrow as she looked up at him. they were standing in the backyard of lydia martin’s house, looking around for scott and allison. 

parties had never really been maddy’s idea of a good time, but she’d been dragged to enough of them by her friends her freshman year to know how to have fun. walking around and looking for your newly bitten werewolf friend to make sure he hadn’t killed his date was not her idea of a fun party.

“lacrosse practice didn’t take place at night on a full moon,” derek grunted, looking around the mobs of intoxicated teenagers for any sign of scott. the newest teen wolf and his date were yet to show at the party, which wasn’t helping the anxiety the two siblings felt about scott’s first full moon. maddy shrugged her shoulders, beginning to walk away from derek to go look through the house for scott again. 

since derek was obviously not a high school student, and was getting past the age where he could still pass for one, he took the job of looking for scott outside with the more drunken teens while his younger sister looked around the house.

before she could wander back inside, derek grabbed the brunette’s bicep, nodding towards the back door. she followed his gaze, finally seeing a rather nervous looking scott and allison. the two wandered outside for a minute before starting to dance, a smile forming on scott’s face. 

it didn’t take scott long to notice the two siblings, tensing up slightly at the sight of derek. it was obvious that scott and stiles didn’t trust derek at all, which maddy didn’t understand considering they only had met him once. she felt a little bit like a stalker as she watched her friends dance, making sure she was close enough to the two to hear scott’s heart rate but far enough away that it wasn’t obvious that she was watching them. 

"hey, maddy," her head perked up at the sound of her lab partner's voice, glancing around until her eyes landed on isaac. the boy was the last person she expected to consider a friend when she moved back to beacon hills, mostly because she hardly remembered him from when she was younger. but, when she realized that he was one of the few people in this god-awful town who wasn't treating her like some sort of museum exhibit, she quickly warmed up to him. plus, he wasn't exactly bad to look at. "didn't expect to see you here. doesn't really seem like your scene."

“it’s not,” she laughed, her eyes quickly darting back to check on scott and allison before returning to isaac. “didn’t really think it was yours either.”

“it’s not,” he smirked, mimicking her. “wanted to get out of the house for a bit, figured half the school would be here, so there’s bound to be at least one person here who’s worth a conversation. and if not, free alcohol.”

before she was able to respond to isaac, she saw scott rush into the house away from his date. it didn't take long for her face to show the annoyance she was starting to feel, and sent isaac an apologetic look. she would much rather have continued talking to him instead of chasing scott around to make sure he didn't go full homicidal maniac, but she didn't really have a choice in the matter. 

“i’m really sorry, but i gotta run. i think i just saw my friend ditch his date after having too much to drink, and i don’t wanna leave her stranded here,” she sighed, spewing out the first excuse she thought of while nodding in a confused allison’s direction. “plus, i would hate to keep you away from all the free alcohol any longer.” 

she reluctantly followed allison through the crowded house, both of them trying to catch up to scott. by the time the shorter brunette got outside, allison was watching scott drive off, a mix of confusion and hurt taking over the taller girl’s features. 

“allison. i’m a friend of scott’s,” maddy heard her brother say as he walked up behind allison. she internally groaned at her brother’s choice to talk to the other brunette, knowing that if scott found out, all it would do is make him angry. plus, she had quickly realized that scott and stiles weren’t the only people in beacon hills who weren’t fond of her brother. “my name’s-”

“derek! i’ve been looking for you, i couldn’t find your car. thanks for coming to give me a ride home. ” she called, cutting off her brother as she ran over to the two of them. she looked over at allison and gave her a smile. “this is my older brother, derek. guess he recognized you from when he’s gotten me from school. do you need a ride home?”

“oh, hi, it’s nice to meet you,” she smiled, nodding at derek. “and yeah, if it isn’t too much trouble that would be great. scott kind of bailed on me.”

“it’s no trouble at all,” derek added, putting his hands in the pockets of his leather jackets as he gestured for the two brunettes to follow him.

♛ ♛ ♛

“did you really have to get all creepy and talk to allison? i mean come on derek, first crashing a high school party, then going and talking to a teenage girl who has no clue who you are? people might start to get the wrong idea,” the girl laughed as the two of them hiked through the woods, knowing that it was only a matter of time before scott came looking for derek. 

“shut up,” derek chuckled, giving the shorter girl a light shove. it was times like this that derek was amazed at how she could make him let his guard down enough to laugh in a serious situation. the two of them had enough experience at controlling themselves on full moons that they weren’t having any problems keeping themselves in check, making them more worried about what scott might do than what they might do. 

derek suddenly put an arm out to stop his sister, any trace of a smile disappearing from his face as the two heard scott’s voice in the distance.

“where is she?” the boy yelled, anger evident in his tone as the two saw him find allison’s jacket. they had hung it on a tree after she forgot it in their car, hoping that the scent would draw scott into the woods where he couldn’t hurt anyone.

“she’s safe. from you,” derek taunted, his voice calm and low. maddison rose her eyebrows at the older man, who responded with a nod to let her know that he had a plan. that didn’t necessarily reassure her, having been a part of enough of derek’s plans to know they normally didn’t turn out like he wanted them to. and by normally, she meant never. 

the shorter brunette suddenly noticed her brother tense up, doing the same shortly after when she realized why. she could hear another group of people approaching, probably the same ones who had cut up laura like she was an animal and used the pieces as bait. she bit her lip as she watched derek take off towards scott, abandoning whatever the original plan had been. 

she rubbed her forehead as she watched her brother tackle her friend, pinning him to a tree as he tried to quiet him. his new plan was quite possibly worse than whatever the old one had been, the noise coming from the two only alerting the hunters to where they were. she ran over to the two of them, grabbing derek’s arm and pulling him off scott.

“it’s too late. they’re already here,” she whispered, shaking her head at her brother. she looked over at scott, who gave her a confused look as to why she was in the woods alongside derek. she shook her head, giving the boy one word of advice. “run.”

the two siblings took off, expecting scott to follow them, stopping as they heard him run in the opposite direction right towards the hunters. maddison grimaced as she watched her friend’s arm get tacked to a tree by an arrow, having experienced the pain of that firsthand a few years ago. the two shared a look, derek giving his sister a nod before they took off, running towards the hunters. 

each of them threw one of the flanking hunters back into a tree, knocking them out and leaving the leader fazed for a moment. maddison’s breath hitched in her throat as she recognized the man. she saw him pick allison up from school every day, although if he recognized her, he didn’t show it. 

she tore her eyes away from allison’s father to watch as derek ran around the hunter and ripped the arrow out of scott’s arm, allowing him to move away from the tree. this time, scott followed the hales as they ran, not bothering to look back at the man who had just tried to kill him. 

the three of them ran further into the woods before scott eventually fell onto his knees, panting from the adrenaline. maddison watched as scott cradled the arm that had been shot before he looked between herself and derek. 

“who were they?” he breathed, the panic in his voice obvious. she could tell he was both scared and confused, wondering why derek and herself seemed so calm about the fact that three men with crossbows and guns had just tried to attack them in the middle of the night. 

“hunters,” derek explained, looking down at the beta. “the kind that have been hunting us for centuries.”

“us? you mean you! you did this to me!” scott yelled as he stood up, beginning to walk towards derek. maddy’s eyes widened as she finally realised why scott didn’t trust derek. she shook her head as it finally made sense to her; scott and stiles thought derek was the one who bit him, which couldn’t have been further from the truth. 

“keep your voice down!” the brunette hissed, walking over to her friend and pushing him away from her brother. “derek didn’t do this, okay. he’s a beta, not an alpha. both of us are.”

scott’s eyes widened as he looked at maddy, finally making the connection that she too was a werewolf, everything finally making sense to him. why she agreed with stiles about scott being a werewolf, how she was able to pin scott to the wall; it was all because she was a werewolf too.

“is it really so bad, scott? that you can hear better, see more clearly, move faster than any human could ever hope?” derek snapped, his posture growing rigid as he started moving towards scott and his sister. “you’ve been given something most people would kill for. the bite is a gift.”

“oh my god, seriously? that was your big speech, “the bite is a gift?” that fucking sucks, derek,” she snapped, earning herself a glare from her brother. she knew derek saw truth about the bite being a gift, but she also knew that he knew more than anyone that the bite could change someone's life for the worst. she wasn't sure whether he had just become more pro-werewolf now that there were hunters around again, knowing that bigger numbers would give them more of a fighting chance, or if he was just bullshitting scott. she was really hopping for the latter.

“i don’t want it,” scott growled, looking between the other two werewolves. 

“you will,” maddy shrugged, moving away from scott to stand next to derek. 

“and you’re going to need us if you want to learn how to control it,” derek finished, moving foreward to put his hand on scott’s shoulder. “so you and me scott...we’re brothers now.”

maddy rolled her eyes at his speech, deciding against making any more snide comments about it. instead, she gave scott one final look before turning around and beginning the hike back to her house, knowing derek would follow her at some point. 

  



	5. CHAPTER FOUR

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> follows 1x03 - pack mentality

maddy sighed as she pulled the hand she wasn't writing with inside the sleeve of her sweatshirt, regretting not bringing a heavier jacket, or a jacket at all as she sat and watched lacrosse practice. she shivered slightly as she continued to do the algebra homework she had spread out in front of her.

in the two weeks that she'd been back in beacon hills, maddison had gone to four lacrosse practices, not counting the one she was currently at, which was four too many. most of the time she worked on whatever homework she had that night, sitting on one of the bleachers that people normally rested their feet on and spreading her work out on the bench in front of her like it was a table.

the brunette looked up as she heard coach call scott's name, glancing around the field to see what was going on before realising it was scott's turn to attempt to score.

both stiles and scott had ignored her all day, neither of them saying a word to the girl after finding out that she was a werewolf. in a way she understood why; she had done nothing to help stiles try and convince scott that he was a werewolf as well, and she hadn't helped scott figure out what was happening to him.

she watched scott go up against jackson who was on defence, closing her eyes as jackson pushed scott to the ground and blocking his attempt to score. werewolves and contact sports were never an ideal match, which was part of the reason why derek stuck to basketball when he was in high school, and why she only ran cross country.

"hey mccall. my grandmother can move faster than that. and she's dead," coach laughed, leaning over to continue to taunt scott. maddy rested her head in her hands, knowing that there could be no positive outcome this conversation could have. "you think you can move faster than the lifeless corpse of my dead grandmother?"

"yes coach," scott spoke up, anger radiating off of him. the adrenaline rush he was getting from lacrosse, mixed in with the fact that he had just realized that allison's father was the hunter that shot him was not a good mix for scott or the rest of the team, making the brunette all the more nervous as she watched the wolf. she began putting her math homework away, knowing that if something went wrong and he shifted, she would have to intervene.

she watched as scott got back in line, redoing the exercise. this time, jackson was the one on the ground, clutching his shoulder as he groaned in pain. a moment later, scott fell to his knees, holding his head. stiles ran to his side, avoiding the rest of the team who was huddled around jackson. maddy watched stiles haul scott off the field, cursing under her breath as she slung her backpack over her shoulder and chased after the two boys. she dropped her backpack at the entrance to the boys locker room, closing her eyes and taking a deep breath before looking down at the claws that were growing from her nails.

"get away from me!" she heard scott growl most likely at stiles, which was all it took for her to run into the room. she saw no trace of the two boys, their locker room being much bigger and laid out differently than the girls locker room was. by the time she was able to find the two boys, scott was standing over stiles, who was trying to figure out how to work the fire extinguisher.

she ran at scott - knowing if she didn't do something soon or stiles didn't get the fire extinguisher to work, scott would do something he would regret - tackling the other werewolf and taking both boys by surprise. the brunette ended up straddling scott's waist as she held his arms down, waiting for the boy to finally stop struggling and calm down. once he did, she rolled off him, taking another deep breath as she felt the claws and fangs return to their normal state, saying a small thank you for the self control she was blessed with. she walked over to scott as he got up, his eyes darting between his best friend and the brunette.

"what happened?" he asked, sweat dripping down his face as he pulled off his lacrosse helmet. stiles pulled his gloves off, breathing heavily as he looked between scott and maddy, who still hadn't said a word.

"you tried to kill me," he muttered, looking at scott as he kneeled in front of his best friend. "it's like i told you before, it's the anger. your pulse rising. it's a trigger."

maddy leaned against one of the lockers as she watched the two boys talk, thankful that at least stiles was smart enough to realise what was causing his best friend to turn into a rage filled killing machine with no self control.

"but that's lacrosse. it's a pretty violent game if you hadn't noticed," scott argued, shaking his head as he realised stiles was right.

"well it's about to be a lot more violent if you end up killing someone on the field," maddy snapped, making both boys look over at her as if they just remembered she was there. they had a habit of forgetting the girl was often with them, partially because she had just come back to beacon hills and partially because she had a tendency to sit back and watch rather than talk. "you can't play saturday. you're gonna have to get out of the game."

stiles nodded, agreeing with the other werewolf. he looked at her, confusion suddenly taking over his features. when she tackled scott he had noticed that she was shifted, with nothing to trigger the shift, and was back to normal when she stood up.

"how do you keep yourself in control so easily? you seemed to be fine with shifting just now," he asked, tilting his head to the side slightly.

"yeah, even on the full moon you and derek seemed fine," scott added, his eyebrows furrowed as he thought back to the other night.

"it's easier for me to control it than derek, always has been. i just always had more self control than my siblings did, but controlling the shift is easier for derek and i because we've been taught how to. plus, we're born wolves, we weren't bitten," the brunette shrugged, crossing her arms over her chest.

it was true. she knew that scott and anyone else the alpha tried to turn would have a harder time learning to control their shifts and emotions than her and derek ever had, it being easier for born wolves to control themselves. she felt bad for him, knowing that he would at some point have to go through being chained up while yelling hurtful things to someone he cared about, all because he wasn't in control of his emotions.

"how easy?" scott asked. the two boys watched as she closed her eyes and took a deep breath, not sure what she was doing. she uncrossed her arms, revealing long claws similar to the ones scott had just had. she opened her eyes to reveal a bright blue instead of the gold scott and stiles were expecting. the two boys watched as their friend blinked, causing her eyes to go back to normal and her claws begin to retract.

"why aren't your eyes gold like scott's?" stiles asked. maddy winced at the question, a surge of painful memories coming back. "sorry, you don't have to answer that if you don't want to."

"no, it's fine. um, when a werewolf takes an innocent life, their eyes change from gold to blue," the brunette told them quietly, looking at the ground to avoid eye contact with her somewhat-friends. "i've never killed anyone though, so laura wasn't really sure why my eyes turned blue. her closest explanation was that it was how i manifested my guilt after the fire. that day, cora had stayed home that day because her teacher thought she sprained her ankle the day before, and because it had already healed my mom didn't trust her to limp around like it still hurt. me, being the dutiful twin i was, stayed home to hang out with her. i watched the ceiling collapse on her when the fire spread. we were running around the house, trying to find anyone, and she was behind me, and it just fell. i couldn't-i couldn't save her. i tried. my uncle peter had found me crying next to her, and i have no idea how, but he managed to get me out of the house. he went back in, and i guess he never made it back out. derek and laura found me eventually."

the memory of that day made her want to cry, which is why she didn't speak about it often. the only reason she told the two boys was because she wanted scott to know what would happen if he ever did kill someone, even on accident or out of mercy. his identity would be tainted forever, and any werewolf who saw the color of his eyes would know what he did. it was worse for her, knowing any werewolf who saw her would assume the worst, when in reality she had no idea why her eyes were the bright blue color. for her, all it was was a constant reminder that she was here, and her family wasn't.

"sorry for asking, i um, thought it maybe had to do with human eye color or something. you know since your eyes are naturally blue and scott's are brown," stiles mumbled, looking away from her.

scott stayed quiet, now having a slightly different view of his friend. he realised whether or not he could trust her brother, he would be able to trust the brunette.

♛♛♛

"you have to be kidding me," maddy groaned, looking over at her brother as he parked the camaro across the street from scott's house. he had once again dragged her along to talk to scott, although this time it was purely because he didn't know where scott lived. "breaking and entering? that's a new one."

the man ignored her, turning the car off and walking towards the house, not bothering to wait for his sister to follow. she reluctantly got out of the car after weighing her options, deciding that being a mediator between scott and derek might end up being her new full time job.

she jogged over to her brother, reaching him at the same time he got to the mccall's front door. he wiggled the handle once, opening it with ease. maddy looked between the door and her brother, blinking rapidly. normally derek knowing how to do literally everything didn't shock her, but this was new even to her.

"how the fuck did you do that?" she said quietly as to not alert scott that they were here as she followed derek into her friend's house. "that was awesome, you need to teach me how to do that."

as usual, derek ignored her comments as he made his way upstairs to scott's room. how he knew where he was going, maddy once again had no idea, but she didn't particularly care at the moment. all she wanted to do was go home and watch netflix, but no, here she was following derek around on his werewolf vigilante adventures.

she leaned against the doorframe when they reached scott's room, while derek took a more bold approach and stood inside the room against the wall. maddy wanted to laugh at how unskilled scott was at utilizing his newly enhanced senses as she waited for him to realize they were there, hoping that it happened sometime soon so she could go home. her prayers were answered as she watched her brother pin scott to the wall he had previously been standing in front of as soon as he noticed them, realizing she and derek had a bad habit of pinning scott down or tackling him.

"i heard what happened at the field today," derek hissed, anger evident in his voice. "you shifted in front of them! if they find out what you are, they find out about me, about addy, about all of us. and then it's not just the hunters after us, it's everyone."

"they-they didn't see anything! i-i swear!" scott stuttered. from maddy's position on the other side of the room, she could clearly smell the fear that was coming from scott. as much as he tried to pretend that derek didn't scare him, scott and stiles were both obviously terrified of the older man. the brunette wasn't particularly surprised they were scared, her brother wasn't really the best at first impressions, especially when he wasn't trying to make a good one at all. plus, every encounter scott has had with the older werewolf since their first encounter has involved derek assaulting him.

"and they won't! because if you even try to play in that game on saturday...i'm gonna kill you myself," he whispered threateningly. he was gone after that, leaving scott alone in his room with maddison. he looked at his friend, trying to figure out what just happened.

"sorry about him," the brunette sighed, walking over to take a seat on scott's bead so that she could see stiles, who was still on video chat with scott. "he has a flare for the dramatic. he's just more on edge after the run in with the hunters on friday. he won't actually kill you, obviously, he's just trying to intimidate you."

"well it's working!" stiles yelled from the computer, maddy and scott looking over at him. scott returned to his seat in his desk chair, spinning so he could see both stiles and maddy. "jesus maddy, how do you put up with him? also, did he call you addy?"

"yeah, addy was a family nickname. only derek and a few other people have called me it in recent years, and if either of you ever call me that, i'll actually kill you," she snapped, stiles and scott both nodding in understanding. "i'm one of the few people in the world who actually enjoys the company of derek hale-"

"the only person who enjoys the company of derek hale," stiles corrected, earning himself a glare from the brunette.

"it doesn't hurt that he's actually nice to maddy," scott added, shrugging. "probably makes it easier to get along with him if he actually likes you and isn't constantly threatening to kill you."

the brunette shrugged in fairness from her place on scott's bed, agreeing with what the other two boys were saying. she thought back to the other night when derek told her that she was the only person he actually liked after maddy suggested he start being nicer to scott. she decided he needed to start getting out there more, make a few friends who weren't, well, her, if they were going to stay in beacon hills for any length of time.

"yeah, threatening to kill you, running around murdering people in the woods, he's got a lot going for himself," stiles listed. maddy snapped her head towards the boy on the computer screen, narrowing her eyes at his words.

"i'm sorry? you think derek killed the girl they found in the woods?" she asked, her tone growing darker as she spoke. scott opened his mouth, unsure of what to say. himself and stiles were both in agreement that it had to have been derek who killed the girl they found in the woods, since she died the same day he came back to beacon hills, but they had been avoiding that conversation around their friend since their prime suspect happened to be her brother.

"well, um," stiles started, flinching at his carelessness to bring up the subject. "i mean it would make sense. you guys came back the same day the body was found in the woods, and my dad said it would have had to been done by a considerably strong adult made considering only half of the body was found."

maddy's eyes narrowed even more at the two boys, glaring at them. she knew that they didn't trust her brother, she could understand that. hell, the guy had just broken into scott's house and threatened to kill him if he played in the lacrosse game on saturday. she got that derek was a lot to deal with, especially a derek that wasn't trying to get people to like him. but accusing him of murder, that was another thing.

"derek didn't do it. we didn't even get back to beacon hills until around 8pm the night the body was found. even if we had gotten back earlier in the day, derek was exhausted. he had just driven forty hours in like two days. even a werewolf would've been way too tired to chop up some innocent person in the woods," she growled, standing up. "i've gotta go. scott, figure out how to get out of the game saturday. it's not safe for you to play, for you or anyone else."

scott and stiles watched their friend as she walked towards scott's window before jumping out, the same way her brother had left a few minutes prior.

"she does know you have stairs and a front door right?" stiles asked, causing scott to look at him in exasperation. 


	6. CHAPTER FIVE

maddy walked into her math class, a frown on her face as she took in her seat at the back of the class. she just had a conversation with her art teacher about entering one of her pieces in a statewide showcase, and was told that if she wanted to submit it, she needed to let the teacher know by the end of the day.

if it was any other piece of art she would have already agreed, but this one was a touchy subject. they were working on portraits when she joined the class, and the project had been to draw someone you admire or look up to, but with a small twist. so, she drew derek. the entire portrait was done in black and white with charcoal, except for his eyes, which were a bright, almost electric blue color. she knew she would have to tell the teacher that she couldn't submit it, but she wanted to know if there was even the tiniest chance derek would let her enter it.

**_to: big brother  
_ ** _so remember that portrait i did of you with blue eyes for my art class? my teacher wants to submit it for some state showcase. would you be cool with that? i'll only tell her it's okay if you're okay with it._

_**from: big brother**  
go ahead, it was amazing. i'm proud of you._

she smiled as she read the text, excited that people besides herself, derek, and her various art teachers would see something that she drew. plus, that was a pretty emotion filled text for derek.

"what are you so happy about" scott asked as he sat down in front of her, the bell ringing as he got in his seat. the brunette's head snapped up at his words, the smile disappearing off her face as she remembered that him and stiles thought that her brother was a murderer, and that he had murdered their sister of all people, though they weren't aware of the last part.

"it's nothing," she mumbled, putting away her phone and grabbing her math binder out of her backpack. scott sighed as he turned around, knowing that he wouldn't get anywhere with her while she was mad at him and stiles.

"mr. mccall, miss martin, would the two of you please complete the problems on the board?"

"why is there a rumor going around that you aren't playing tomorrow?" maddy heard lydia ask scott as she began answering the problem she had been assigned. maddy kept her head down, looking through her binder for last night's homework as she listened to scott and lydia's conversation.

since coming back to beacon hills, the brunette had only had short bits of conversation with lydia, normally when she was with allison and jackson at lunch or lacrosse practice. if she was being quite honest, she couldn't stand lydia. she was pretty sure she'd had more conversations with jackson than she had the redhead, which wasn't something she thought lydia was entirely comfortable with.

maddy took a deep breath as she watched lydia strut back to her seat, sensing the anger that was radiating off scott at her mention of allison and other guys. scott came back to his seat a moment later, his problem finished. incorrect, but finished. she knew ignoring scott wasn't going to help him learn to control himself, sighing as she gave him a few words of reassurance.

"don't let her get to you. allison likes you scott, trust me. i don't think she'd ditch you because you didn't play in one lacrosse game," the brunette assured him, opening her notebook to get ready to copy down today's notes. she grabbed her phone and her earbuds out of her backpack before she continued speaking. "derek and i can help you learn to control it, then you'll be back to kicking ass at lacrosse better than ever."

she knew mentioning derek would probably not help the situation, but scott also needed to realise that maddy couldn't help him without derek. the older man had much more experience, and knew a lot more about training and control than she did. plus, scott needed to get over the idea of derek being a killer, because him thinking that wasn't helping either of them.

after the brunette had left scott's house last night, she was relieved to find derek's camaro waiting for her out front. as soon as she got in the car, derek could tell something was bothering her. she had refrained from telling him about scott and stiles's growing suspicion about him being laura's killer, which caused the older werewolf to grow even angrier than he already was about scott's shift at the lacrosse field. after derek's little blow up, maddy spent the rest of the night cleaning up everything he broke.

"i hope so," scott sighed quietly, beginning to take notes himself.

♛ ♛ ♛

maddy was leaning against the locker next to scott's as he grabbed his books, scrolling through her spotify, listing off random songs or artists that she thought he might like. she had been listening to music during math class, not really paying attention to the notes she was supposed to be taking since she already knew how to do everything, and scott had asked her to help him find some music since he enjoyed the small bits and pieces he was able to hear.

"metallica? seriously?" scott asked, raising his eyebrows in approval as he looked at the short brunette next to him. she scoffed as she nodded her head.

"they're only like my favorite band ever. last year derek took me to see them at madison square garden for my birthday, it was insane." she thought back to that time a year ago. that was one of her favorite memories with her brother, and thinking back to a time when everything seemed so much easier made her miss the way their life had been back in new york. "they're actually one of derek's favorite bands too, and hearing him listen to them so much made them grow on me."

as much as she didn't want to admit it, coming back to beacon hills had taken a toll on her and derek's relationship. being back in their old hometown and being in the house their family died in was stressing both of them out, and laura's death, along with the threat of scott exposing them and a new alpha had put them both over the edge. they had put their lives on hold to come back to beacon hills, and now it didn't look like either of them would get to go back to the people they had been in new york.

scott looked down at his friend as he closed her locker, thinking of how different their perspectives of the older man was. derek was her best friend, her older brother, the person who would do anything to protect her or make her happy. the way maddison talked about derek made him seem like a completely different person than the one he had met.

suddenly both of the two werewolves were being dragged by stiles over to the stairs, where they could see stiles's dad, the sheriff, talking to the principal.

"tell me what they're saying," stiles said, staring at his dad intently. maddy and scott both began trying to block out all of the other noise in the hallway, attempting to focus on the sheriff's voice.

"they're instituting a curfew because of the body," scott told him, turning back around to face stiles. maddy continued listening, wanting to hear if they said anything else about her sister.

"you know what?" stiles decided, making maddy break away from the sheriff to look at his son. "i'm going to find the other half of the body."

maddison's eyes basically popped out of her head at stiles's words before she began blinking rapidly. she knew that scott and stiles thought that derek killed laura, but she wasn't expecting them to actually go looking for the body. plus, the possibility of the two of them finding the body that was buried in their front yard would not help her case that derek was innocent.

"dude, seriously?" scott coughed, slightly surprised at his best friend's sudden decision. stiles nodded, giving scott a look that maddy didn't understand. scott however, sighed as he knew what stiles was saying to him. "fine. pick me up at 7. but i'm getting home in time for the curfew, i don't want to get in anymore trouble with your dad."

maddy looked between the two of them, the hurt she began to feel last night when they accused derek of murdering laura coming back, knowing that she had made absolutely no progress convincing them that her brother wasn't a murderer. she shook her head as the two of them discussing their plan to look for the other half of the body.

"you two have fun. just do me one favor, leave derek out of this," she mumbled, pushing past the two of them and disappearing down the crowded hallway.

♛ ♛ ♛

maddy walked into her living room happily, relieved that she didn't have to sit through a lacrosse practice after school. plus, derek was actually on time picking her up today, which meant she didn't have to stand around in the cold like usual. she sat down on the floor and leaned against the wall, dropping her backpack next to her. the couch her brother was currently sitting on was one of the few pieces of furniture that hadn't been completely burned in the fire, along with the small table that was sitting in the middle of the room. her brother had refused her constant pleas to get new furniture, refusing to believe they would have to stay in beacon hills long enough for it to be a worthwhile purchase, leaving her with very few options for where to do her homework.

she had spread out all of her homework neatly in front of her, derek's nose crinkling as he noticed how much she had to do. he had always insisted that his younger sister was some sort of a genius, which according to the psychologist she used to see in new york, was a definite possibility.

unfortunately for her, the "gifted program" she had been a part of at her old school wasn't offered in the small town of beacon hills, so she was given the option of either being put in classes that are normally meant for seniors, or just take the normal sophomore honors classes. she opted for the latter, figuring it would be easier for her to seem normal if she was in classes with people who were her age.

"derek! derek!" scott yelled from outside their house, both of the siblings looking up at the sudden noise before looking at each other. maddison could tell derek was becoming annoyed by scott, and she didn't blame him. he was beginning to get on her nerves as well, and scott showing up at their house unannounced and yelling at derek was making the two siblings want to rethink their idea of helping him.

derek eventually sighed and closed his laptop, knowing scott wasn't going to leave until he went outside. maddy followed him outside to see scott's bike off to the side while his backpack sat at his feet. she leaned against the doorframe while derek continued out onto the large cement porch. scott turned back to face the house, doing a double take as he saw derek. his shock faded quickly and was replaced by anger as he started yelling at the older man.

"stay away from her! she doesn't know anything!"

maddy scoffed at the remark about allison, not understanding how scott could be so naive about the whole situation. he'd known the girl as long as she had, yet scott seemed to grow a lot more attached to her in the short time. as much as the brunette had grown to like allison, she had began to distance herself from her new friend after she found out about allison's family's secret past time. at this point, maddy didn't really care whether or not allison knew about the supernatural world, all she knew was that getting too close to allison could mean putting the only family she had left in danger, and to her that wasn't an option.

"yeah? what if she does?" derek accused, jumping off the porch and walking towards scott. "you think your little buddy stiles can just google werewolves, and now you've got all the answers, is that it?"

"you don't get it yet scott, but we're looking out for you," maddy said from her position on the porch. both of the other werewolves turned to look at her, derek raising an eyebrow at her comment. "don't give me that look, derek. you weren't the one that had to tackle him in the boys locker room after he shifted during lacrosse practice. he needs our help, whether he likes it or not."

derek turned back to scott, picking up the boy's lacrosse stick as he continued to speak.

"think about what could happen. you're out on the field. the aggression takes over, and you shift in front of everyone. your mom, all your friends. and when they see you," he paused, tapping the lacrosse stick against scott's chest before ripping the net with his claws. "everything. falls. apart."

derek disappeared into the house after that, leaving scott angrier than he was when he arrived. maddy stared at him for a moment before shaking her head, letting out a small chuckle as she began to move towards the teenage boy. scott turned to look at her as she neared him, giving the teenage girl a hard stare.

"he's got a point. stiles has been right about some things so far, like aggression being a trigger for shifting, but the two of you don't know shit," the brunette told him, her voice icy as she stopped in front of scott. "derek and i have spent our entire lives learning how to control ourselves and our emotions on full moons. i don't really care whether or not you want our help. you're putting people i care about in danger, and that isn't fucking cool."

the two teenagers didn't say anything after that, they just stared at each other, their eyes full of anger. maddy eventually turned around and went back inside, leaving scott standing alone in the hale's front yard. 


End file.
